Ambitions Curse
by werewolfbleu
Summary: Prequel to A Fangirl's Crack'd Afterlife. The epic romance is here! Xeno hybrid and abomination, Revna is doing what she does best, causing mayhem. But her fun comes at a price when she attracts the attention of an Elite who will challenge more than just her prowess as a huntress. And this time, her beguiling smirk may cause more trouble than she can handle. Slow-burn romance ;D
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue **

**Abomination**

The fatal strokes of the huntress's foreclaws shred skin and muscle. Lost to the curse of the blood song, the inexperienced male didn't have the presence of mind to evade the hand that impaled him. The length of the huntress's forearm sinks into the young blood's chest. He feels no pain. The raging song is all consuming. And the young blood tosses his head back with a furious roar. The abrupt movement causes the recording to blur; the cam refocuses on the heavens; blurs again as the male swings his head down; the cam adjusts and zooms in on a pair of fierce green orbs. The determination shining through brightens them to a shade of green nearly as vibrant as the dying young blood's life essence fountaining from his chest.

Kazai'sa, Elite to the Matriarch Kalix'tal, watches the recording impassively, unmoved by the remaining young blood's impending demise. _Move fast or die. _A hard lesson that cannot be taught and you can only fail once. Even so, Kazai'sa remembered all too well the blinding fury of that song, it is something that never truly leaves a Yautja, but time has a way of eroding things. And nine centuries of the hunt was a long time. Now, only the bloodlust and the ever-present rage beating within his chest endured. _Efficient_, Kazai'sa thought in recognition of the speed and precision of the huntress's death blow. _Merciless. _

A quality this time-honed warrior appreciated. Taking pity on your prey was ignoble. If they fought to their last breath, then they deserved an honorable death. But strangely, the huntress did not seem to relish her triumph. Baring teeth much too sharp for a human, she pulls the Yautja closer; pulls the cam closer; pulls _him_ closer; Kazai'sa can't look away; refuses to look away. A low cadence of a growl can be heard over the dying Yautja's quaking breaths. The huntress's snarl twists into an open taunt as if daring Kazai'sa to hunt her.

_Arrogant. _Rattling laughter erupted from the Elite's chest, causing winged shadows lurking in the skeletal trees overhead to take flight. As birds and beasts alike scurried away from that hollow, terrifying sound, Kazai'sa replayed the killing blow, studying the huntress's movements frame by frame and decided he liked what he saw. She'd impressed him, something that happened so rarely, Kazai'sa found himself staring into the frozen image of the huntress's green orbs. Drawn by her fighting spirit, the hunter involuntarily leaned in to trace the bloody warpath of her arduous battle smeared across her face in mud and the blood of her kills.

Kazai'sa lowered the biomask from his face, pausing the recording playing on the inverse opti-shields. Extracting all the information he could, Kazai'sa pulled up her bioscan. The left opti-shield produced several layers of the huntress's biology revealing a fact of great interest to the hunter. The female was a xeno hybrid. An abomination.

The hunter raised his head. An icy mist settled over Tassix 7, leeching away the color of the darkening marshland. How ironic that he came to this decaying world hunting one abomination and her BadBlood mate, only to happen upon another and the havoc she wrought. An invigorating breeze shifted the lengthy, slightly greying dreads tied loosely at the nap of the hunter's neck. Mud squelched underfoot as he leaned forward in his crouched position to lay the biomask on the chest of its dead owner. Scavengers came and went days ago, leaving mostly barebones and scattered remnants of gear behind. The fusty, bitter air barely tinged with rot.

He glanced right, upslope. In the snarl of roots, sinking into the marsh, a Hunt Master and three other young bloods', like the one at his feet, would soon provide nutrients to mud dwelling arthropods. He should destroy the remains, eliminate all traces as per Yautja law. But in his mind, he found this end more fitting. The Hunt Master had made a grave error in judgment, therefore the clan the dead belonged too should clean up the mess. Kazia'sa noted the location and sent the information to the other clan, allowing them to decide what to do with the remains. As for the recordings... Kazai'sa stored those and erased the evidence. Even as he did so, he clacked his tusks at the impulsive decision. Though, he didn't dwell on it too much. The Yautja are a competitive lot and none more so than those who have grown bored of the hunt and seek deadlier challenges. Moreover, Kazai'sa didn't want to have to deal with dozens of cocksure young bloods, aspiring to make a name for themselves. Killing them would be a trial of patience of which he had none.

Kazai'sa stood up and gazed longingly into his own ambition. The dead meant nothing to him, but the huntress... the U'darahje... the mere thought of hunting her woke the ancient hymn in his blood. Echoes of the long-forgotten song spiraled through his veins- _sei'i_, he alone would hunt the Abomination... and one way or another she would end the curse of his unrelenting discontent...

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**A/N: Please note that the majority of this story is told through Revna aka the Abomination. ;) But occasionally it will shift back to Kazai'sa. Again this is a prequel, but you don't have to read the original: A Fangirl's Crack'd Afterlife. But you should for funzies! ;D It'll give you a sneak peek at the epic romance to come... hehe. **

**P.S. This chapter was short on purpose. ;)**

**...**

**Yautja Definitions: **

**Sei'i: Yes **

**Young Bloods: juveniles who have a little hunting experience but have yet to kill a xeno. **

**Hunt Master: This title's kind of ambiguous. Hunt Masters train and take Un-Bloods and Young Bloods out on the hunt. But the Hunt Master can also be a Clan Leader. It's a bit of a grey area in the books. **

**U'darahje: Abomination **

**BadBlood: a dishonored Yautja. **

**Elite: typically loners. They're above the Hunt Master but not the Ancients. They act mainly as enforcers and arbitrators. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Succulent Prey**

Adderwyrm shit. It had to be adderwyrm shit. _Sure. Why not? It adds to the chic-sewer-rat ambiance. _

"The things I do," I sighed. Ignoring the nagging voice of reason that insisted I was being difficult. _Stubborn... _See what I mean about pesky disembodied voices haunting my grey matter? Couldn't be my conscious. That guy committed suicide years ago.

Disturbed by my presence, the adders huddled together above my head, shifting nervously as I passed. Their little black furry bodies gave depth to the shadows and breathed torturous life into this infected planet. Their restless energy crawled up my neck, and I had to curb the desire to spook them. It would've been fun to make them shriek and take flight, but not down here where the walls could collapse at any given moment. So deep were the tunnels beneath the Whispering Peaks of Tassix 7 that my natural night vision couldn't penetrate the dark beyond a meter in any direction. And while having extrasensory perception gave me a badass edge, mine wasn't as good as my much-much-much-_much _uglier cousins. And without the glow of the witch-light stones ensconced in the walls guiding my path, I'd likely slip in guano and brain myself on broken masonry. Or die in some other fantastical embarrassing way.

_"... pauk-de, u'darahje! Dtai'k-de!" _

Memory flickered then vanished. _Losing to a pack of inexperienced, not to mention hormonally charged kits would've been an embarrassing way to go. _I smirked. And luckily, my skull hadn't ended up on any of those cocky asstards walls where they could paw at themselves while they stared at it. Or whatever the Yautja do with their trophies. Don't know. Don't care. I won and that's all that matters. _But__ what the hell is an u..ururuje? _I've been given many enduring labels over the years, but that's one I haven't heard before. 'Course I've never run into a Yautja before either. It was bound to happen. My xenomorph heritage marked me as "Big Game" to them. The lead hunter hadn't been fooled by my human skin, but he'd underestimated the size of the queen bitch just beneath the surface. Maybe that's why he'd stupidly thrown untrained juveniles at my claws. He hadn't expected me to put up such a fight. I didn't have the lethal whip tail or inner jaws of a xeno, so maybe he thought they stood a chance. _Dumbass._ Part of me wanted to take pity on them. But I had known with absolute certainty they would never stop hunting me.

My tongue darted out to lick salt roughened lips. I liked a good fight as much as the next girl, and I enjoyed myself up until the older one realized they weren't going to make it out alive and then the bastard had to go and ruin the game by attempting to nuke us! And for realsies here, who runs around with a fucking bomb strapped to their wrist?! Yeah, I get it. They didn't want me to loot their corpses, or make finger puppets out of their mandibles, or steal their tech and blah, blah, blah, die with honor, blah, blah, blah. But a bomb?! Talk about a race of sore losers.

_Hmmm, they were fun. _I half laughed, half snorted at myself, then sighed. Here's the best part about being a hybrid. Everybody and their snaggle-tusked mother wants a piece of you. Here's the downside. They all want the wrong bits! _And I have such nice bits too. Hmm, maybe I'm sending out the wrong signals? Nah. Couldn't be that. _

From behind me came the sharp furtive footsteps of hundreds of tiny clawed feet. There was nothing to fear in these derelict mines, well, except being buried alive. But as far as the old stories go, I had yet to run into anything nastier than me, simply put, I was the scariest thing down here. And that ain't ego, that's just a fact. Still, the sound scraped my nerves with needles of ice, raising my hackles and setting my teeth on edge. I stopped and twisted at the hips, tilting my head as I examined the empty corridor. Clots of dirt fell from a small hole in the ceiling behind me. There was frenzied movement at the opening then whatever it was disappeared.

I snorted, hoping to dislodge the foul stink of adderwyrm shit from my nose then turned 'round and continued. _Hag larvae, _I decided. _Likely attracted by my heat._ Good. It meant I was getting closer. _Bag some hag jewels then get the hell off this slimy rock._

Exiting through an arch guarded by statues whose black jeweled eyes glittered balefully in the low light, I came upon a chasm. There was no bottom that I could see, and the stone chasm-bridge had been destroyed long before this planetary system's star began to die, but hey, there was a rickety rope bridge I could cross. Go me.

_Why not the eyes? _It was odd. The despoilation of this ancient underworld was evident in every room, corridor and vault, yet no one took the eyes of the statues. Tempted, I glanced back at the stone sentinels, noticing the dry and blackened lichen tattooing their massive paws and muscular forelegs. Bodily, there was something very canine about them, but their heads were akin to the Kulra of Hiaako. _Were their jaws open when I walked past? _I straightened and shrugged the creeping weirdness off. I was not spooked, besides what I hunted was far more valuable anyway. And sadly this would likely be my last chance before the weight of the mountain became too much to bear.

I clenched my teeth. This was the only place I've ever found hag jewels. Not that I looked real hard. And discovering them had been a total freak accident anyway, so losing them wouldn't be the end of the universe, but it would suck.

I eyed the rope bridge with cautious optimism. Optimism likely born of desperation but I was okay with that. Besides what's an adventure without a little thrill?

"Oh, yes, the things I do," I grumbled and stepped onto a wood plank. It splintered and whined but luckily didn't break. A minor miracle considering I wasn't dainty in the slightest. After the rape and splicing of my genetics, whatever formula of hybridization the Wey-Yu scientists had used on me, gave me a lot of muscle. And not gazelle legs either, though they are quite sexy.

Not what you were expecting right? Well, neither was Wey-Yu. I'm not some adorable pixie badass you can carry in your pocket who's absurdly strong for her size. Nope. I'm a fucking Amazon goddess with an abundant mane of untamable raven black hair. And I am no one's _pet_. So upon my grand escape from that miserable life, I disabled the lab's lockdown and left the doors to the hatcheries wide open. And you better believe I strutted my way through those halls of carnage in nothing but my skin right out the exit. _Tit for tat._

I passed through a small square that branched off into three other directions. I chose the one not completely carpeted in guano which seemed like a good idea until I found myself hunching the further I descended. Freakishly tall, remember. _The masons got a little lazy down these halls._

A pulse. I paused, closed my eyes and focused on it. In my mind's eye, I saw a lump of darkness; felt it shift inside my head; sensed its breath. I reached out, my fingers ghosting the frost licked wall. I tried to open up the pathways in my mind and _see _the way a xenomorph does, but all I got was a feel for the hungry predator and the general size of the room.

_Big boy._

A dull ache started behind my eyes. I blew out a breath and reminded myself it was best to conserve energy because I was gonna need it.

I came around a curve, then down a stone step into a vault, and there, he stood waiting for me. I took a deep breath, scenting him. Over the dank mustiness of earth and the rotting of meat, I caught the telltale whiff of a scent I associated with springtime and growing things. A smell so out of place in this hellish pocket of the universe it could only mean one thing. Saliva filled my mouth, and my heart sped up; lips quivering in anticipation as they lifted to bare a gleeful smile I purred: "Nmm, bend over, baby."

...

**The Hunter **

_At last, _Kazai'sa's exasperation curled into a guttural growl. The hunter paused and stared at the crooked gaping door in the side of the sinking mountains. Shards of mirror resin hung from the entrance like the fangs of a great kainde-lou-dte'kalei. After learning all that he could, Kazai'sa abandoned the huntress's kill sight and started his hunt in earnest. And for the last three days, his prey led him through every festering mud hole, through every abandoned, crumbling settlement sinking into the earth, and every decaying forest on this rotten planet. It was obvious she was searching for something but had yet to find it. But to descend into the dark below the mountains was stupid. The vast stone channels, far older than even he, were now encased in soft, sticky ever-shifting earth. And the threat of collapse was imminent.

Of course, this would not stop him. His whole body tingled with the anticipation of added danger. For centuries the warrior longed for prey that would sate the wretched, ever-present beast living within him. Maybe then he could rest. _Li'ki-de? _The thought elicited a dark rumble of incredulity, but still, the unshakable need drove him ever onward. Kazai'sa could barely recall a time when he'd felt pride in a kill. It's as if every failed hunt took a piece of him to the afterlife, leaving only the madness of a song that would never play for him again... or so he thought.

Kazai'sa lifted a hand and removed his bio-mask, discarding the filter over his senses. Mandibles parting, the hunter breathed deeply. Beneath the foul stink of the mire and vermin, he could taste her. Faint though it was, the minuscule trace hit his system like the afterburn of a shot of aged cn'tlip. A pair of fierce green orbs flashed behind his eyelids, their defiance forever burning in his memory.

Possessed, the hunter shed all the ideologies of the Yautja that would otherwise cheapen the hunt. Foolish youngbloods often held fast and relied too heavily upon technology. And time and again that dependency has led to countless warriors dying before having reached their prime.

The predator stalked through the gaping jaws of the mountain, an eager readiness to his stride. Darkness greedily slipped over his skin, consuming him, and the beast felt right at home...

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**A/N: Thanks for those favs, follows and reviews. Predesaurus at the bottom. Remember to hit the pretty blue button and tell me the good, the bad, and the dirty deets of your thoughts ;)**

**angel897: Thanx sweets :) **

**KTCameleon: Thanx! I hate writing in 3rd person, so I'm really happy you liked it. I'm doing okay. Hope you're well :) **

**Tenfangirl: Lol, oh, yes! _Lots _of joy to look forward too XD **

**Vakrian: Thanx, V! And you can choke on that strawberry tart! :P **

**Arbitrator11: Yay! So glad you like! Lol, thanx :) **

**Predesaurus **

_**"...pauk-de, u'darahje! Dtai'k-de!" **_**translation: ****"... fucking, abomination! Fight!" **

**Cn'tlip: Knock you on your ass alcohol. **

**Kainde-lou-dte'kalei: Hard Meat/Xenomorph queen**

**Li'ki-de: to rest (non canon, I made it up) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Too Many Curses**

I came around a curve, then down a stone step into a vault, and there, he stood waiting for me. I took a deep breath, scenting him. Over the dank mustiness of earth and the rotting of meat, I caught the telltale whiff of a scent I associated with springtime and growing things. A smell so out of place in this hellish pocket of the universe it could only mean one thing. Saliva filled my mouth, and my heart sped up; lips quivering in anticipation as they lifted to bare a gleeful smile I purred: "Nmm, bend over, baby."

In the midst of a crude circle of defiled sarcophagi and scavenged stonework, an immense Hag Centipede three times the bulk of a Yautja grinned at me; witch-light glinted off spiked teeth stained pink from the blood of the kill pinned beneath dozens of multijointed scaly legs all ending in deadly curved tarsial claws.

My smile widened as he scuttled forward, thick slabs of muscle bunching as he raised his segmented body off the ground. He must've thought I was the after-dinner mint.

A crypt broke under the weight of his lengthy torso as he slammed back down, sending up a plume of bone dust. I snorted, dislodging the dead guy from my sensitive nose. I tried very hard not to think about what I was inhaling and refused to lick the bone particles caking my lips. I'm not squeamish about dead things but that's just nasty!

Blue light shivered then vanished. My lips parted, I wanted those hag jewels.

_Come on, big boy. _Excited, I subtly shifted my foot back, readying myself. _We'll have ourselves a merry chase._ Hags are fast, but I'm faster. But if he thought he was going to lose his meal, the hag would burrow so quickly I'd miss my shot at the jewels.

Heavily laden with eggs snuggled happily in the holes in his tough, scaly back, the hag daddy's body appeared cumbersome in the confined space. Eggs more precious than any stone, I might add. And tasty too. But that's not why I had to have them.

The hag daddy slowly circled me, blocking all exits as he trapped me behind a massive wall of flesh and legs. When the circle was closed and he thought there was no escape, the hag daddy reared up again to reveal a brown belly crusted with dark patches of blood and bits of gore stuck to spiny hairs. Confidence oozed from him, the offensive odor was somehow viler than the guano covering every square inch of these crumbling mines. And why shouldn't he be? King of this festering mudhole, it was unlikely anything more horrifying than he ever walked this planet... _enter moi._

A mischievous grin played upon my lips. Attracted by the warmth of the witch-lights, it was understandable why the hag daddy had built his nest here. The stones luminosity flickered and danced as a candle would in a window, but their deadly secret is what made them truly beautiful. Huh, kind of like me. Here's the thing, the light inside the stone, it wants _out_. I'm sure there's some fascinating story behind the chemistry, but I'd think myself right into a coma if I tried to figure it out. All I needed was the advantage.

Big daddy roared, the sound akin to the manic cackle of an old hag, which was how the great arthropods got their name. Readying to strike, the slabs of muscle in front of me stretched. My fingers slipped over the hilt of the dagger I carried at the small of my back. A cold charge zipped up my arm as I grasped it. My breaths seemed to echo off the walls of the cavernous vault, drowning out the metallic braying of the hag daddy. On instinct, I collapsed at the knee and folded myself flat against the floor with my legs beneath me, simultaneously shielding my eyes and drawing the teeth of the Tibisayna from her scabbard. The neutron-star metal sparked blue, igniting the witch-light. All at once, the warm candle glow went full inferno; blinding; confusing; vaporizing the chill clinging to the bare skin of my arms.

Liberated from a radical sect of Taal monks, the Tibisayna was supposedly a charmed object of some alien god of chaos... or bad juju... or disruption... or something of that ilk. Then, I stole it off the charred remains of a void witch.

The hag daddy's cackling roar drove nails into my skull. His massive body thrashed; tarsial claws cutting through the protective fabric of my black E-viro armor to gouge my thighs.

_Shit!_

Barely avoiding being crushed by the solid arthropod, I lashed out with the serrated dagger, severing three of its legs. The Tibisayna shivered. I shivered too but for a different reason. Putrid purple bug juice -_Ick!Ick!Ick!_\- sprayed across my neck and face. The hag daddy wailed, his long body contorting and legs thrashing in waves.

Not wanting the stones to burst, I haphazardly wiped the blade on my pant leg and sheathed it. My eyes weren't as sensitive to the light as the hags, but the after images of its brilliance plagued my vision.

_That heat blooms gonna attract attention. _All too aware of this, I lept onto the writhing centipede's back, dug in my claws and held on like a big, albeit sexy tick. Agitated as he was, the enormous arthropod's whirling bursts of motion were noticeably controlled. Even half-crazed by the now dwindling light, he wasn't willing to risk damaging or squishing the cluster of eggs on his back.

"That's a good daddy," I crooned. Careful not to penetrate its gelatinous shell with my claws, I pried an egg loose from its fleshy nursery. The hag daddy bucked and jerked, but I kept my balance with unconscious effort as I gazed at the translucent, lambent blue jewel between my fingers. But as I stared, a seed of darkness suddenly appeared at its center; spiraling; tainting the beat of life within.

_What the- _

My nostrils flared.

_-Yautja!_

Reaction governed by instinct, I pinwheeled over and off the hag daddy's back as the Yautja hurled himself at me. I glimpsed a pair of feverish orange orbs before I hit the floor then immediately backflipped to avoid the enraged hag daddy as he contorted his body like a great serpent to greet the new threat.

_No mask?_

On some deep level, this bizarre behavior unnerved me though I couldn't fathom why. I've never heard of a Yautja hunting without their mask...

The Yautja sprang up from behind the giant centipede, clearing the mountainous flesh with a surprising amount of agility for a creature with such a densely muscled frame... _his very naked__ frame,_ I abruptly realized then stupidly got distracted by his... okay, yup, that's a man thong. And no, I'm not confusing the word 'thong' with a loincloth. The drape of leather scarcely covered his jewels but those ass cheeks were bare.

_Is his skin blue? _

Was all I had time to think as the- yes, blue, as the _blue_ hunter landed in a very predatory stance on all fours not half a meter in front of me then immediately launched himself at me. I snarled as the full power of the Yautja barreled into me, his formidable talons threatening to puncture my throat. Hissing, I purposely took the weight of our fall on my shoulders and used his own ungodly, heavy ass against him by shoving all my strength into his stomach and throwing him off me.

Breaths bursting from my chest, I rolled into a crouch in time to see him righten with annoying ease and come at me again. _What's with these pretentious bastards?! _In my head, I felt the worming movement of dozens of bodies beneath us, above us and in the walls; their need to find a heat source overriding self-preservation. I readied. With remarkable speed, the Yautja came for me. The corner of my lips lifted and I thought I caught a glimpse of amusement of all things in his eyes before the hag daddy intercepted him. But the Yautja had been ready, he'd seen it coming.

A bone-deep chill spread through me as the Yautja grabbed the lower jaw of the enormous arthropod and tore it off. The hag daddy twisted and reared up, bathing the vault in blood as he lashed at the Yautja with dozens of deadly sharp claws. It's cackling bellow of pain was punctuated by a wet gurgling rasp. The Yautja straightened, the hard lines and notches of war-ravaged muscle and sinew prominent in the smoldering glow of the witch-lights. And for some incomprehensible reason, the sight of it stole my breath.

A growl thrummed from within the chest of the Yautja. A stone-grating, menacing sound that held an undercurrent of sheer wrongness.

_Run! _Born of two worlds, I'd long ago embraced the inherent viciousness of my xeno nature. _S__he _was drawn to all things violent, yet for once, even the curse seemed reluctant. But then the crazy Yautja yanked the hag daddy forward and shoved his arm down the centipede's ruined gullet.

_The jewels! _

"No!" I shouted, understanding dawning to little to late.

The hag daddy writhed, eggs crunching and splattering the walls as the arthropod desperately fought to survive. The Yautja held the flailing mammoth arthropod as if it were weightless, unconcerned with the spiked teeth gouging his shoulders, determined to drag up all its soft organs by the windpipe.

_I have to get those eggs! _

Remembering the one I'd plucked earlier from the hag daddy's back, I briefly toyed with the thought of eating it. A little bump would definitely help right about now. I glanced at the crystalline egg between my fingers, but then without a second thought, I slipped it into one of the cryotubes holstered to my thigh. I've never faced a foe like the Yautja while under the... full-on, mind-bending effects of the black curse.

"Stupid, hunter-" Brutally beautiful tiger orange orbs glared out from beneath the heavily scared hood of his brow ridge to track my movements. I danced out of the reach of tarsial claws and the Yautja and got behind the hag daddy. "-your interference has prematurely ended my fun. So I need to even the score." And with that, I withdrew the Tibisayna.

Brilliant light filled the room, sending the shadows scuttling for the cracks in the walls and floor. Perspiration sprouted along my spine from the sudden heat bloom. The hunter roared and jerked away from the hag daddy to shield his eyes. It wasn't a secret that the Yautja see in the infrared, but I never expected I'd be able to use it against one.

_Don't underestimate me again... _

I didn't have time to analyze why I thought I'd _ever _see this psycho again as the spongy earth beneath my feet abruptly gave way to dozens of segmented bodies. Centipedes burst from the walls and the ceiling, destroying the already crumbling masonry of the vault. Clots of dirt and stonework started to rain down, and the very floor seemed to be sinking.

Quickly as I could, I sheathed the Tibisayna then grabbed and stored as many of the eggs in the cryotubes as I could before making a mad dash to the vault's entrance. The light was failing; the walls were literally disintegrating, and when my hackles bristled in warning my attention snapped to the Yautja behind me.

_He sees me!_

But how was that possible? The heat of the witch-lights and the numerous bodies should've scattered any trace of my heat. Our gazes locked, and I was struck by the unyielding torrent of his strength. He knew no weakness, nor mercy. Tiger orange orbs lit by horrifying fervor eradicated any preconceived notions of me coming out of this fight unscathed. I bared my teeth and snarled, hating the way a mere glance had shaken me. The Yautja's mandibles spread and with an unholy roar I thought would bring down the whole damn mountain, the hunter started to chase me. My eyes widened as he tore through the horde of heavy, segmented bodies and broken stonework with irresistible power. He was nothing like the pack I faced in the marsh. There was beastly savagery about this one that was desperately frightening. Even the very real threat of being buried alive did not stanch the killing lust bleeding from his eyes.

_He'll never stop... _

That profound realization scared me more than anything has ever scared me before in my entire life. Even so, the exhilaration of the anticipatory chase excited me in spite of what would happen if he ever laid hands on me. A whisper of a smirk played at the corners of my lips as I fled the vault. After all, survival was the ultimate wicked game...

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**A/N: And so begins the epic chase ;D Thanx for the favs, follows, and reviews. **

**...**

**Arbitrator11: Haha! That had to be one of the best reviews ever! Thanx XD **

**Tenfangirl: A tiny bit, lol. They weren't crazy for each other so much in the beginning but they'll get there ;) Thanx for the love! **

**Vakrian: Thanx, Besty! I adore these two characters, so I'm happy you like them. :) **

**angel897: Yay! *happy dance* I'm excited you liked it! :D Thanx!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Predator vs Predator**

There were centipedes everywhere. Driven to reach the fading warmth of the vault I'd left behind, their wriggling bodies breached the seams of the heavy flagstones ripping them apart, crippling tunnels right before my very eyes and sending me darting through doorways at the moment of collapse.

My breath bursts from my lungs in pained gasps after I faint left and take a particularly risky dive under a disintegrating arch and roll so that my already bruised shoulders absorb the impact. Perspiration muddied by bone dust and fuck knows all trickles into my eyes causing them to sting like crazy. I shut them and throw my arms over my head as the once magnificent masonry threatens to bury me alive.

The rumbling stops and slowly, I chance a peek. Dust-choked air mutes the glow of the witch-lights, but I observe the thick blanket of shadow and discern darker lumps of a mountain of rubble blocking the path I came from. Not that I had any intention of going back. It just meant that my pursuer would have to find a dif-

A thundering bellow of rage shakes the stones and sends scree tripping down the pile to skitter past me. _Ah, hell. _A witch stone lands at my fingertips, I grab it and launch myself into a run before I've even completely picked myself up off the ground.

When ambush predators chase down their prey its all about endurance. Whoever tired first would be the loser. However, the Yautja weren't just in it for the chase (of course, they weren't really in it for lunch either). They were trophy hunters, but not your typical spineless hunters that shot from the safety of cover or distance. When they came to collect the head or whatever pound of flesh that would immortalize their victory, it was only after an arduous battle of mind, body, and spirit.

_And my body will break long before his does. _

I was forged of sterner stuff than merely human DNA, but unfortunately, I inherited much of their weakness. And while my physical build can be daunting to the average human male it does not faze a Yautja. It certainly hadn't been enough to discourage the pack I'd fought topside. However, the unrefined youths lacked discipline and frankly humility. I would never match a Yautja's brute strength but having bigger "guns" than me also made them heavier too. And luckily, I'm fast. An excellent jumper. And my ability to scale walls could only be rivaled by a gecko... yeah, I say gecko because they're adorable and let's be honest here, what woman would ever equate her prowess to a xeno's?! They're _hideous_! Regardless of the fact that we shared hereditary material, I'm still me. And I love me in spite of the ick-fest that is my genetic code.

_Crunch_! _Squelch_! Each step of my bug juice bloated boots grew more and more precarious. Thankfully, the mass of centipedes converging in the corridors appeared to be diminishing. But... where the hell was I?

_Damn it all!_

I slowed my pace, trying to get a sense of where I was. The cloying miasma of bug innards and guano made it impossible to trace exit points... or the Yautja. I eyed the corridor behind me. Even with the thousands of legs scuttling about, it seemed vastly empty. Apprehension tightened my shoulders. Where had he gone? But really it was the sudden absence of snarling menace that gave me pause.

My fingers brushed the cryotubes. _No. _I fisted my hand. I've only eaten a hag jewel raw once and once had been enough. If the veil of humanity were to get stripped away again... I might not ever get it back. My human psyche forever trapped in the mind of xeno. I shivered.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and let the mental barriers melt away. My extrasensory perception may not be as keen as a xeno's, but it allowed me to ignore the physical walls and _see _beyond them. Doing this with a rabid hunter on my tail wasn't easy. The tension made it harder to focus. But if I didn't find an exit, neither of us would be going home with a coveted prize.

Purple waves rippled, the collective heartbeats of hundreds of centipedes. I waded through them and took a mental walk beyond the corridor. I take a breath and push a little harder. There's an impression of a large empty space ahead. Not far. It's the chasm. I'm sure of it. _But w__here is he?_ Sweat beads at the curve of my jaw to slide down the hollow of my throat. The cavernous darkness grew too dense. Wherever he was, he was too far away for my xeno sight to touch him.

"Hm," my eyes slid open. "Perhaps he's lost interest." The words came out strangely sullen, and I had to laugh at myself. Getting the hag jewels back to Justine came first, yet I still dearly hoped I'd have another chance to play with the blue hunter, preferably on my terms though. I often wonder about my creation and the latticework of DNA that attributed to my nature. I've never thought of xenomorphs as playful creatures, but they were only one strand amongst thousands. I couldn't ignore my instinctual desire to engage this Yautja anymore than he could ignore his which was why I knew he hadn't lost interest.

_Maybe I can't fight it, but I can do the smart thing (_yes, I am capable of forethought, so shaddap_) and run from it... _A smirk edged with sharp canines stretched the corners of my lips as a little thrill went through me._ ...but where would be the fun in that? _

Somewhere in the channels of this vast maze, he was waiting for me. As I will silence to my nimble gait and make my way towards the cavern, I recall the sharp glint of amusement in the hunter's gaze. For some reason, this was considerably more significant than even his ability to _see _me in what I can only imagine must've been a sea of yellow-orange when the witch-lights were blazing. It leads me to believe I am dealing with a far more clever predator than the savage brute that had attacked me. This, of course, makes him exceeding dangerous and unpredictable.

_Well, so am I!_

...

**Predator**

_Scritch. Scratch. _

Arthropods scurry around in the cascading blackness. Drawn to the heat radiating off the predator, they gather as close as they dare, risking life and limb for the energy needed to sustain them.

Lower mandibles armed with deadly tusks stretch in displeaser, but for the most part, the predator ignored the vermin congregating near his feet. In the cavern, everything echoed, and he would not risk alerting his prey.

Metal claws mercilessly jab the backs of his eyes. Seeking a better understanding of the abomination's defenses and skill had come at a price but one that had been worth the lingering irritation. She'd known about the inherent weakness of the Yautja and exploited it. He'd expected that but to draw light from stone with a dagger? The hunter couldn't even be mad. He found her fiendishness stimulating. The last abomination he dispatched had wailed and jibbered incoherently and had lost the very will to continue on at the mere sight of him. At that point, it had become a mercy killing. Prey who's fighting spirit has been broken was no longer acceptable prey. Honor could not be attained from something that didn't want to survive.

Inaudible vibrations bearing the promise of violence send the arthropods hurriedly away. Taking control of his errant thoughts, the predator distracted himself from the memory of dissatisfying past hunts by staring down at the void of distant nothingness below him. Perched atop the sheared off face of a statue, the hunter's position was several kilometers beneath the chasm bridge were great stone figures linked disintegrating stairways that lead further down than the eye could possibly track. At his back was a wall of solid rock but he doubted it would obscure his prey's entry. Now that he'd seen her heat signature for himself, Kazia'sa wondered if it attributed to the death of the youngbloods and their Hunt Master. Without the filter of a bio-mask, the female's chemistry was so damn bright he'd spotted her through several layers of decaying sludgy walls. But once she became aware of him, the hunter witnessed a bizarre flickering in her heat signature. Hard meats could hide in plain sight by adjusting to the ambient temperature which was why the Yautja had adopted the use of pheromone trackers. But the hunter had never heard of an abomination being able to do the same. It seemed to him to be some a kind of defense reflex though not a conscious one. Or at least not one she could control. Still, the display had a disorienting effect.

Suddenly Kazai'sa recalled his own, chaotic reaction. Lost to the howling madness of a vapid, warped melody for a considerable length of his life, the hunter had almost forgotten the glorious euphoria of the hunt. Awakened by the scent of the abomination, the blood song rampaged through his veins, giving the hunter purpose once more. Kazai'sa leaned forward on limber legs as he reflected on this.

_If but a taste of her scent can do this... _

_..._

**Revna**

Faint amber light sends warm ripples through the cold, eerie murkiness. Faces of stone giants peer out from the stark shadows, their massive shoulders hold the sheer walls of the chasm open. The pale witch-light exposes other hidden impressions of stonework and stairways too, rousing my adventurous side. I had to remind myself that delving even deeper into these mines would be moronic, not to mention time-consuming and I was already late for my date.

_He's here. _

Instinct froze me to the spot. The air in the underground cavern was far less fetid than the corridors. I catch a wisp of his scent, but I sense it's deliberate to draw me further into the chamber. My fingers encircled the hilt of the Tibisayna as I search the bitter darkness. Here I am completely and utterly exposed and waving a flashlight around no less. Then, it hits me, the logic behind the hunter's um... heathen-attire. He can move without restraint or the rustle of fabric and with his midnight blue skin, the cloak of shadow would conceal him better than any camouflage tech.

_Ignite the witch-light!_

I ignore the fleeting and desperate thought. It did not escape my notice that for some unknown reason there were no other witch-lights in this cavern. Perhaps the architects simply got lazy or maybe there's an underlying reason I have yet to see. Either way, one alone cannot hope to pierce the malign presence of the forever night laden subterranean city...

_Or maybe that's the Yautja I sense. _

"Oh, hunter," I bare my teeth in a feral grin as my words echo playfully off the walls. I turn this way and that. The chasm bridge was only a stone's throw away. "My ass, your... lipless... maw... mandible... thingy, they should meet!" Suddenly I had a vivid image him literally biting my ass and thought better of my taunt. I took a step backward towards the bridge, eying the leering statues above the archway I exited. "On second thought-"

My human eyes see nothing but my hybridized brain senses a subtle shift and it was my only warning before the stillness of the cavern erupted in motion. If I could put into words the surging fury of the xenomorph's instincts, they might be: **_Male much bigger. We are faster. Take him low. Rake our claws through flesh and bone. Bite. Kill. Feed. _**Determined and ready, I spun. But the sneaky hunter does not play fair. Surprise grips me in its cold embrace, immobilizing me as the Yautja leaps up from out of the chasm. The hunter was a demonic-looking beast, his face quilted with old scars, orange orbs burning with an otherworldly fire... _**Must s**__**urvive!**_

**Predator vs Predator**

Revna shrieks her fury, driving herself forward and into the Yautja's attack. Death embraces her; she lets him. Talons like cleavers sink into her back as arms of braided steal ensnare her. A hiss pushes past her clenched teeth. His crushing weight lifts her off her feet; she's ready. Revna will never match his strength, but the hybrid is an intelligent creature. Instead of bracing, she wraps her legs around him, shifting their momentum and forcing him to counterbalance while she goes for his throat.

Kazia'sa felt as though he'd been struck in the chest by a siege cannon. The spice of her blood coated the roof of his mouth and tongue, amplifying and augmenting the blood song in an unexpected way. Ravenous, the beast slammed through his bones harder than he'd ever felt it. And when she gripped him with her legs, the predator intuitively read her movements.

Kazai'sa compensated the displacement of their weight by allowing himself to fall into a hard crouch. Teeth flirt with the pulse in his neck. She will rip out his jugular. The huntress's bold, aggressiveness both excites and angers the warrior. A thunderous roar booms from his chest as he grabs the back of the abomination's neck and throws her.

Revna landed in painful awkward sprawl, her head and left arm dangling over the edge of the chasm. More than a little battered from having been thrown like a mere toy, agony burns in her chest with each breath. The pain reminds her that this Yautja was a much more experienced killer than the ones she fought last.

Without reprieve, the hunter leaps from his crouch. Adrenaline pumping, Revna barely manages to roll over in order to bring her dagger to bare. The Yautja seizes her wrist, stopping the blade an instant before it slid into his skull. And in that same moment, the forgotten witch-light flares to life and the Yautja jerks as it spears his eyes. Revna strikes with fury as her venom and sinks her teeth into his forearm, tearing skin and muscle. The killing lust thunders in the Yautja's brain. Roaring, he aims to slam his fist through the wretched curs chest. Revna _sees _the strike, she knows it'll kill her. Releasing his forearm, she curls her body up and into him, feeling the tidal wave of his power flow over her. But horror, unlike anything Revna has ever felt before steals the breath from her lungs as the lip of the chasm disintegrates under the Yautja's mighty fist and they both abruptly plunge into the abyss...

* * *

**A/N: Thanx for reading. By the way, I'm experimenting with writing perspectives and style. So lemme know what you guys think ;) Oh!- and mwahahahahaha cliffhanger ;D**

**angel897: Thanx for all the love angel! :) **

**Vakrian: Lol, thanx V. And if I were you, I'd worry a bit more about Kazai'sa ;D **

**Tenfangirl: Lol, yes it begins... in a painful manner of speaking. 'Course we know who wins this game in the end ;) Thanx, girl! **

**equipagan: Yay! Glad you love them! They're a couple of my favorites too. :) **

**KTCameleon: Haha, what makes you think he's related to those two yahoos? Lol, but no. Kazia'sa has no relation to the twins. And I'll get to the eggs later. Right now the girl's just gotta concentrate on not dying ;) **

**Akari Wolf Princess: Hime-sama! I'm so excited you're reading this story! I can hardly wait to share more! Thanx! :D **

**Motred101: Lol and I love that you love it! More coming soon! Thanx :D **


	5. Chapter 5

**First Iteration: Stalemate**

Down-down-down-down-down, we plummeted through mist and shadow to meet an end neither of us was willing to face quietly. I spat meaningful words of venom, hoping that my colorful vernacular wasn't wasted because really, it would be a shame for him to die without fully comprehending just how much I loathed him at this moment.

The Hunter, apparently preoccupied with not dying an inglorious death, roared and managed to weave fingers of iron into my hair. We were falling so fast, I didn't think he'd have the coordination to grab me, but the burning in my scalp said otherwise as he jerked me to him.

_No! _

I wouldn't go out this way. I'd rather graffiti the earth with my entrails then let this bastard have the final victory. Miraculously the Tibisayna was still in my hand. Sensing his other hand would go for my throat, I sliced through the thick fistful of my hair and kicked off the Hunter at the same time.

The Hunter snarled as the force of my boot to his chest caused us both to tumble harder. The dizzying descent made me sick, but I figured getting vomit in my hair was the least of my worries. With an outstretched arm, I grabbed at the sheer walls, screaming as the rocks broke and tore claws from nailbeds. My heart hammered uncontrollably with the fear, and I couldn't seem to get a grip either mentally or physically. But the primal instincts of my darker heritage thrust the panic of the fragile human psyche aside and forced me to _see _my impending death.

Cold air struck my cheeks as I stared into oblivion. Below the thickening mist, there's a solid wall of black stillness rushing towards me... and yet, there were incorporeal vibrations only my xeno sight could detect. _Not rock. _My mind could push easily through this until a rough sketch of its size and depth formed in my mind's eye. _Cold air. Mist. _My eyes flew wide. _It's water! _No sooner had the realization crossed my mind that the force of my fall drove me deep beneath the surface of the underground lake. The smack of the water hit me like a kick in the guts; the air burst from my lungs in huge bubbles leading back to the surface. I followed them up vaguely aware that I'd heard the _kerplunk_ of the Hunter hitting the water somewhere close by seconds after I did.

Were the Yautja good swimmers? I didn't know; and with the burning, in my ribs, I really didn't care to find out right now.

I expelled water with a sputtering cough as I breached the surface. I wiped my eyes, turning in big thrashing half-circles with the hand that held the Tibisayna while the other held my side. My ribs weren't broken, I had a vivid sensory memory of that pain from a fight with a Taal palace hound, but even bruised, the injury would slow me down.

I have excellent night acuity, unfortunately, the surprisingly tepid water was far too dark for my eyes.

_Where di-_

Water filled my mouth and caught in my throat as something grabbed my ankle and dragged me under. Shutting my eyes, I willed myself to rely on my xeno sight. Functioning as an internal projector, my extrasensory perception gave me the ability to _see_ the Hunter. With tremendous strength, the Hunter pulled me down further while simultaneously crawling his way up my body, his talons puncturing my calf and thighs in his ascent. The pain forced a choked scream from my throat, carrying with it the last of my breath and breaking my concentration.

I lashed out with the Tibisayna, feeling the tip of the blade hungrily slide through flesh. A dull roar and air bubbles followed. Grabbing my wrist, he viciously twisted it behind me, but there was no air in my lungs in which to carry the sound of my pained gasp.

A weight rested on my chest. Even in the consuming blackness, the Hunter's baleful orange orbs have an iridescent sheen of hellfire. His tusks brushed the tops of my breasts as his mandibles spread revealing a lipless maw of jagged teeth.

My heart lurched wildly then raced at an unsteady beat. _I'm going to drown! _Even as the lack of oxygen leeched away my strength, adrenaline-charged fury born of desperation gave me a rush of energy. I got my free hand between us and raked my claws over the ropey muscles in his neck, determined to sever an artery, but the drag of the water and his thick, rough hide made it difficult to inflict enough damage.

Bright dots shimmered, fading in and out of my peripheral vision as the darkness pressed in. My leaden limbs feebly pushed against the Hunter. The pressure on my chest surged upward, but I didn't have the energy to stare death in the eye anymore.

_I... I wonder... where... where he'll put my skull. Somewhere wi.. with a view of the stars maybe... _

Cool and slimy his arm encircled my calf. Everything moves in shadow, and all I could hear was the distant tolling of my heart. There's an unexpected sharp jerk and the pressure disappeared. My vicious heritage snarls at me. **_Escape! _**But its all so very confusing.

Numb as I was, I barely sensed my own heartbeat, but the vibrations coming from below were so violent I easily saw them with my xeno sight. Two massive bodies, one the Yautja, the other... I had no idea, but the damn thing had my leg. Suddenly, I was flying; whipped through the water with unimaginable strength. And then, I could breathe. Biting cold air stung my lungs and it was the most beautiful pain I ever experienced.

My body smacked into the wall of the chasm then crumbled on a stone step halfway submerged in the lake. I choked and spasmed, then went still. My consciousness dangling by a thre-

I was not aware of my surrounding's or how long I lay with brackish water lapping into my open mouth, but I reacted the way any sensible woman would react. "Fucking hell!" I spat, gagging on the silt and bile clawing my throat. I pushed myself up on shaking limbs and collapsed into the wall at my back.

Waves swished and sloshed over my legs as I sat there in a daze. I was exhausted, hungry, and ill with a bone-deep weariness I haven't felt since the day I escaped the Company's death grip on my life.

Far removed, as if hearing the world through a layer of cotton, I finally realize the burbling sound coming from the lake. I tilted my head and squinted, noticing the ripples coming from blooms of bubbles at its center. For a moment, I was mystified, but then the lake suddenly began to boil, and the Hunter came soaring out of the water. A wingless, hellish nightmare with mandibles spread and a roar that foreshadowed a bloody battle.

Cornered, I hissed in defiance, eager to reeducate this hunter with my teeth only to tilt my head in profound confusion as the Yautja sort of flop dived back into the lake. _That was... interesting. _Crouched, I scooted to the edge of the stone step and stared down into darkness. Below the billowing waves rushing up my bent legs, I sensed frenzied movement. As I stared, balls of light briefly illuminated the depths then disappeared. And that's when I remembered the cold and slimy caress of whatever had thrown me from the water. Something was down there, and whatever it was, it had the Yautja. _Okay, not so confused anymore. _

I leaned back on my haunches and aimed a malevolent little laugh at the Hunter._ Paybacks a bitch, bub. _

More than ready to leave this stink hole behind, I made it successfully up three steps without a second thought before I had a second-fucking-thought! _Am I really going to let it end this way? _I shook my head. _This is ridiculous. Why am I even bothering with this? It's not as if that bastard will thank me. _My predatory nature snarled at me to hurry the hell up and leave this place; get warm, get something to eat, and not to lose sleep over the death of your enemy. 'Course that could also be the bruised ego talking. She gets rather cranky when things don't go her way. _But __I'll be damned if I lose to some mud-sucking tadpole! _That thought was even more confusing. True, I hated having my fun spoiled, but I've guided many an enemy into the jaws of another. _Yes, but if the fish eats him, the Yautja will die without recognizing me as the better hunter!_ My teeth ground together. "Why am I trying to rationalize this?!" My snarl rattled off the walls of the chasm, the fading echo almost a taunting laugh.

_And what if he drowns..._

"Dammit," I whirled and jumped before I could change my mind. "Stupid Yautja-" Water closed over my head. I intended to use my xeno sight once in the water but my less than stealthy dive-kerplop didn't exactly go unnoticed. A few meters below my feet a creature of massive proportions illuminated. In the depths of the lake, the mesmerizing speckles dotting its translucent scales gave the monstrous being an alien ethereal beauty. Lengthy, bioluminescent fangs far too big for its mouth jutted outward in a severe underbite. A crown of tentacles swayed gently around its bulbous head. It swam close to the bottom, two huge, shiny eyes staring at me.

_Easy there fishcakes. _

Squinting, I eyed the lake god's transparent belly. I could make out the cluster of its organs but no bulk of a protein-rich meal. _It's better off. Poor thing p__robably would've had a major case of constipation anyway. _

The lake god swam in a deceptively lazy figure eight, its ghostly light unveiling a hidden landscape of weapons and empty shells of armor. My gaze zipped back to its cold, glassy eyes, and I was suddenly very aware of the vibrations my gentle movements were making. With the Hunter nowhere in sight, it was time to get out of the water. As if sensing my decision, the lake god turned off the lights.

You know what my problem is? I'm too damn nice_. _Cursing the Hunter, I grabbed the Tibisayna and forced open the pathways in mind._ Shit! _Already, the damn thing was right in front of me. Bioluminescent teeth half a man's height filled my vision, but before we could determine who had the deadlier bite (me), something grabbed my forearm and yanked me down. Hard. Resisting the powerful current the big fish created as it darted over our heads. Then, the Hunter was there, crawling up my body once again, but this time he didn't break, he just kept going and kept pushing me down until finally, he kicked off my thighs. The momentum sent me deeper, but the Yautja had used the force to propel himself at the circling lake god. Grabbing onto two of its fangs, the Hunter anchored himself to the underside of the fish's jaw with his dewclaws.

_This hunter's a complete whack-a-doodle!_

The fish rolled. Swimming faster and faster, its movements frantic. Opening and closing its overcrowded mouth. The lake god was stronger, but if the Hunter could hold on, the fish would tire. Though the real question was: how long could the Yautja hold his breath? My lungs were already screaming for some more of that beautiful O2.

Ignoring my better judgment- Because really if the crazy bastard's next great adventure in life was to be fish doo-doo then who was I to stop him?- I swam for the bottom of the lake. The adrenaline helped keep the pain at bay and my mind sharp. It was so dark down here that my xeno sight naturally took over, tracking the movement of the lake god in the background. As I drew closer to the bottom, my night sight started picking out the details. I've never seen weapons and armor pieces from several different eras all piled up in one place before. An interesting discovery, but I was too busy trying not to suffocate to drum up genuine excitement.

_Hmmm... could Justine have known about the lake god? _I grinned wryly in the dark. _She could at least try a little harder to hide her contempt for me. _It didn't bother me. I liked her better for it. Because at least she was honest with me. 'Course assuming she knew about the lake god was a bit of stretch... maybe. But then again, it was the geneticist's deviousness and intelligence that attracted Wey-Yu's attention in the first place. It's a good thing she defected, otherwise, I would've had to kill her.

After only a few seconds of scavenging through the heaps of oxidized weaponry, I began to feel light headed. My time was up. The Hunter would have to make do on his ow-

_Clink-tink. _

The teeth of the Tibisayna grazed the body of a spear jutting up from the grave. An eerie sensation crawled up my arm as I deliberately tapped the dagger to the abnormally long pole weapon's bladed head.

_Awe, you found yourself a buddy._

Sheathing the Tibisayna, I took the spear in a two-handed grip and pulled. Metal clunked and scraped as the staff's end knocked away a shield. The weight felt good in my hands. And the spear seemed relatively unscathed by the time it spent in the water from what I could tell in the low visibility. As I headed for the surface, I felt a vague sense of disloyalty holding the new weapon but dismissed the feeling.

I'd almost made it halfway up when the lake god appeared and belly rolled right over me. So I hitched a ride. But not on the fish, I wrapped an arm around the Hunter's thick neck, aligned my body with his, and clung to him. Inaudible rumbles of hostility vibrated my bones. Too bad my telepathy only worked with xenomorphs, otherwise I would've informed the Hunter that trying to scare me while his bare ass was rubbing my thighs was not the best tactic. The predator peered at me from over his shoulder, a detached, ancient intelligence in his eye. _Hmm, so not a hugger. _I'm betting the old adage "the enemy of my enemy" wouldn't work in my favor.

Growing desperate, the lake god gave a long piercing call, swam straight up and leaped out of the water. Midair, it rotated its massive body. The Hunter raised up to counterbalance. My arm slipped from his neck and started to encircle his chest. But the Hunter chose that moment to twist towards me and grab the hand I had on the spear. My eyes swept over the dark sangria saddle bands running the length of his muscular arm to the hand dangerously wrapped around mine. In the split second, before the lake god went back under, I locked gazes with the Hunter.

_Take it! _

Something stirred behind those hell goblin orbs. Something that made my hackles stand on end. The Hunter clacked his tusks and without warning, he stole the spear from my hand and then the bastard shoved me hard in the chest.

My body slapped the water then I was immediately pummelled by the billowing swells the lake god generate. It drove me under, spun me so hard it took a precious second to figure out I was fighting the current in the wrong direction. I headed for the surface, fully absolved of any pesky worries of leaving that asshole to fend for himself. Why I'd even bothered in the first place was beyond me.

Muscles screaming, I struggled out of the lake and on to a stone step. I shivered. Hybrids aren't as susceptible to the cold thanks to the adaptive nature of the xenomorph. Still, I'd been in the water a long time. My limbs trembled as I crouched there on all fours; each gasping breath a rolling fog in front of me.

Water sloshed over my hands, and I noticed the waves were steadily growing calmer. I eyed the lake. Surely the Hunter hadn't lost? I bared my teeth in annoyance. _I go through all that and the idiot still gets ea- _

In a _spl__oosh _of spraying water, the Hunter emerged from the lake on the opposite side of the chasm; a righteous roar of triumph erupted from his chest to slam through my bones. I hunched closer to the wall; my hand on the Tibisayna; foul death coated the Hunter blacker than the night itself until I realized the thick ichor of the lake god had lent the superior predator some of its transparency.

We were at the narrowed end of the chasm. It would be no great feat on his part to close the distance between us in a single bound. The Hunter turned, a malign undulating shadow in the fading luminosity of the lake god's corpse as it sank to the bottom. I glimpsed twin orbs of hellfire orange and bared my teeth, menace rumbling in my chest. But then inexplicably the Hunter vanished, and my eyes were left to chase the afterimage of his burning gaze.

"You're welcome..." I mutter into the darkness.

...

_Why did he not attack?_

I had a long time to replay the events that unfolded in the belly of the mountain. After trudging up the winding stairs and finally slogging my way back to the _Kitsune,_ I concluded the Hunter hadn't spared me out of any warped sense of comradery after defeating a common foe. It was out of mutual respect. We were at a stalemate. But I was betting once my wounds were healed the game would continue. And the redecoration of my ship more or less confirmed that theory.

Soft musical notes whispered hollow sweet nothings in my ears as I eye the macabre windchimes gently swaying from the hull of my ship. If I had an eye for art, and I don't, I would say visually the skulls of the Yautja hanging from silver cords were stunning against the _Kitsune__'s _obsidian hull. And the work of a complete whack-a-doodle. But since the um... _artist_ was a Yautja it made a bizarre kind of sense. These were the skulls of the pack I'd killed. And the blue hunter had even gone through the trouble of cleaning them.

"How thoughtful," I muttered sardonically, making myself chuckle which in turn caused my ribs to ache. My cells regenerated faster than a human's, but a brawl with a psychotic Yautja was hell on the body.

_No__ game- scratch that. No male is worth this even if his ass was perfectly squeezable. _I had to laugh at myself. My grievances (and there were a lot of them!) with the Hunter flowed out of my body. I'm part xeno (and _ahem _a woman), holding onto grudges comes just as naturally as breathing, but how can I stay angry when the guy makes me laugh for no apparent stupid reason?

_Well, he did try to kill me. _

A breeze shifted my tangled hair; it sent the bones swinging, and despite the underlying threat, their lovely woody clinks brought a genuine grin to my lips.

"He sure does know how to woo a girl," I smirked and dragged my sore and sorry butt into the ship.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. **

**Tenfangirl: I totally agree. I think world building reads better in the third person. But I love being in the shotgun seat of the first person! Anyway, I really appreciate your support TFG! Thanks so much :) **

**angel897: Thanx, angel! Glad to have you as a fan :) **

**Arbitrator11: Awe! Thank you! I was smiling like a crazy person after reading your review! Stay awesome! XD **

**Vakrian: Oi! Keep your pants on, lol! Seeee no cliffy this time XD More on Justine later. Thanx! **

**Akari Wolf Princess: Lol, I think his mandibles would fit perfectly around the butt cheek XD Its the kiss ass appendage! Haha! Thanx :D **


	6. Chapter 6

**Built in Our Bones**

Back on Zeta Ti, I walked through the halls of one of humanity's furthest reaches with confident strides. After my escape which was the catalyst to the uprising that toppled Wey-Yu's tentative hold on this planetary system, they abandoned the facilities leaving a great deal of top-grade sciency doodads behind. Oh, they attempted a few times to reclaim what was lost but they were met with heavy, not to mention ferocious resistance. And eventually, the cost of munitions, _long_-distance travel, and paying for dozens of small military ops added up to be more than the aging equipment. But I think if Wey-Yu found out _who_ had survived the mayhem, they would've sent entire fleets after her.

Justine Cho held a flask under the light and was gazing thoughtfully at a pink opaque slurry at the bottom when I walked in. The geneticist, amongst many other credentials, looked to be in her early to mid-fifties, although the perpetual scowl always made her seem older. Her Korean lineage was prominent in her high sculpted cheekbones and striking black irises. Raven hair with streaks of silver swept up in a tight bun. My eyes went to the wedding band she still wore even though her husband had died during the uprising. I tilted my head in thought. One of our many arguments usually consisted of hybrids having no sense of emotional attachment. Hey, I have emotional attachments. For instance, I had been _very_ emotionally attached to that chunk of hair I lost to that blue bastard! I just didn't understand why Dr. Cho carried her pain in the open. If seeing the ring evoked grief, then why wear it?

Dr. Cho's slim shoulders suddenly hunched, the tips of her fingers white where they clutched the glass. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked. A thread of unease woven into the steel of her voice.

"Long enough to know that's not a strawberry milkshake."

She muttered something in a dead dialect while lowering the flask and turned towards the computer on the lab station behind her. "Could you make some noise before entering? Or announce that you're here?" she griped, keying in numbers.

_How do you quantify strawberry milkshake? _I gave it a mental shrug. Good thing I'm not a chemist. I'd be bored to tears... or evil. Malevolent laughter's always fun. Yes, evil. I'd definitely be evil.

To Dr. Cho, I said, "I'm here."

Dr. Cho rolled her eyes. Leaning a hip against the desk, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right. Sometimes I forget who I'm talking too. We've been over this, Revna, human's make noise."

I stared blandly at her, "I'm not human."

She finally looked at me, "That you aren't." Eyes cold and assessing, they stopped just before meeting mine. "You ran into trouble," she said unequivocally.

In the three days it took to travel to Zeta Ti, I'd cleaned up, fed well, and was very nearly healed. I gave her a sly grin. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You haven't slept."

My lips tightened into a sardonic smirk. The woman hates what I am, but in her own way, Justine Cho was every bit the predator I was.

"The subtle lines etched around your mouth and eyes," she said answering the unasked question. "There's not much you lose sleep over. But it's reassuring to see some things can still bother you."

_And how do you sleep, Dr. Cho?_ But I ignored the underhanded slight. The woman's disdain for xenomorphs, and by default hybrids, was second only to the hatred she harbored for Weyland Yutani. Her motives were still unclear to me, but frankly, I didn't really care to ask.

"Hm, truer words have never been spoken." As if to mock me, the scaring puncture wounds in my thighs burned at the fleeting memory of the Hunter. What Dr. Cho had said was true, rarely did I lose sleep. And yet something about my encounter with the Hunter left me deeply unsettled. I opened my mouth to tell Dr. Cho about my clash with the blue Hunter, but this came out instead. "Did you know about the giant glowing piranha?" It was a legitimate question. Though I didn't particularly care about the answer either way.

She squinted at me, "Piranha?"

I crossed one leg over the other at the ankle and leaned against the wall. "Actually, the thing looked more like an anglerfish and a jelly did the bumpity-bump and had an ugly baby."

"I wasn't aware of any standing or flowing water left on that planet." The severeness of her expression softened with childlike intrigue, shaving years off her apparent age. Behind her eyes, I could almost see her conjuring the lake god.

_So she hadn't known. _

"There was an underground lake intombed in the mines," I added. Enjoying this previously unknown side of the prickly doctor and hoping to explore it.

"What life can endure is truly amazing," she said philosophically, the beginnings of a reflective smile curving her lips. "Survival is truly the most resourceful and tenacious of instincts..." Then Dr. Cho seemed to remember who she was talking to and changed the subject. "Were you able to retrieve the eggs at least?" she asked. The rare notes of warmth in her voice gone.

Disappointment bubbled up, but it was short-lived; burned away in a flash of irritation. It was unwise to seek kinship; especially in a woman who likely spent a lot of her childhood ripping off butterfly wings. My eyes drifted to the framed insects encased in glass on the wall behind Dr. Cho's lab station. _Very unwise._ But I suppose kinship was another one of those tenacious instincts that even the most time ravaged of warriors would be hard pressed to ignore.

"Here," I unclasped the thigh holster with the cryotubes and handed the whole thing over to her.

"Cute," she said derisively as if I'd just handed her my underwear. "There are more stimulants in the fridge." Dr. Cho gestured absently towards a small fridge at the end of the station. She pulled out the cryotubes one by one and slid them into a test tube holder then went to work. "It'll take a few days to reformulate and synthesize the proteins."

"Reformulate?" I questioned as I stepped away from the wall.

"You were whining about the after effects leaving you weak. A vulnerability I can't allow anyone to take advantage of."

I paused with my hand on the door to stare at Dr. Cho's profile, the denial on the tip of my tongue. Then I remembered the argument. Okay, _fine_, I may have been a little whiny. "What you call whiny, I call motivation. Without me on your shoulder, how else would you make progress?"

"In silence." she shot back, shuffling around the station without a hiccup in her brainy process.

Silent mirth shook my shoulders. Even if the doctor genuinely abhorred my existence, she got a few atoms of enjoyment out of our back and forth. Was she even aware that over the past dozen or so times we've spoken face to face she'd gotten comfortable enough in my presence to move about without restraint? She certainly wouldn't give another hybrid her back. The geneticist and I have a symbiotic relationship. She uses me as a weapon against a common enemy. And I use her for the stimulant and a chance to get payback.

Clouds of cold air spiraled as I opened the door to the fridge. On the center rack, three vials filled with a familiar cerulean blue liquid sat all by their lonesomes. _Come to momma. _I took one of the vials and ran a black claw over the frosted glass. Dr. Cho was wrong, well, wrong because I didn't bother to correct her assumption. It wasn't the physical side effects of the stimulant that left me hollowed out and weak, but the emotional ones. What hybrids refer to as the "Black Curse" renders me down until there's nothing left but a creature forged of sheer viciousness and whose sole purpose was to feed and multiply; and when it fades, it unleashes a plague of memories of my earliest years, even before Weyland Yutani sank their scalpels into me. It strips me bare of flesh and bone, leaving only raw human emotion.

_".. sleep, Revna, and when you wake I promise daddy and I will be here..."_

My fist closed around the vial, knuckles white from the strain. But like the ghostly remembrances, the anger passed as it always did. With the steel nerves of a bomb maker, I replaced the vial, deciding to wait for the reformulated version, and firmly shut the door to the fridge as if to shut that chapter on my life. I both hated and embraced my human heart the same way I hated and loved what Dr. Cherish, my maker, had done to me. And it wasn't what I'd become that I loathed, it's the things I'd been forced to do in the name of Weyland Yutani.

_Great, now I've made myself sad._

I sighed and blankly followed Dr. Cho's slender form around the room with my eyes. She hiked herself up on tiptoes to grab a jar full of something that looked like cranberry jam off a higher shelf. She was very short, and I found it entertaining to watch her struggle. Seeing as this was her lab, why did she insist on putting everything out of her own reach? I was about to ask when I noticed the message indicator on my wrist-comp blinking.

Incorporeal fingers of excitement slithered up my spine, warming me all over. There were only two people who ever contacted me- yes, I know that's sad, let's move past it- and one of them was in the room with me. The other was Slitha, a Taal warrior, great-grandson and personal assassin of the reigning Empress of Laavi, and every now and again, my lover.

"So is there any way to reformulate these babies into edibles?" And 'poof' just like that, I broke the morose silence that had fallen.

"I'll make them suppositories if you keep pestering me." And the geneticist flawlessly parried my cheeky banter with the threat of a butt bullet. Ouch.

I chuckled and decided not to poke the scrawny bear. After all, Dr. Cho didn't make idle threats. More than ready to make my exit, and with my spirit ridiculously buoyed by a message I hadn't even read yet, I left Dr. Cho to her hag jewels and milkshakes.

Outside the main building, I found Caesar standing sentry at the door. Another rebel and survivor, Caesar was the only clone of seven to survive the uprising. He was also one of the first test subjects (victims) of the xenomorph/human hybridizations.. it did not go well. The hybrid's head looked like a plastic-wrapped skull with thick mounds of semitransparent flesh over the empty eye sockets. His bones were black and completely visible through pale skin with a rubberized appearance. And though he was all sharp angles and bony like our alien forebearers, Caesar was deceptively strong.

"You should let me eat her," he said, clicking his sharp, triangular teeth together for emphasis.

An unexpected surge of protectiveness peeled my lips back in an open challenge that caught Caesar off guard. The hybrid hissed and took an instinctive step away before he could suppress the reaction. Caesar shook his head, then laughed. A harsh flinty rattle that reminded me to be glad he was on my side.

Checking my own reaction- and really, what the heck had that been about? _Doesn't matter. _My gut instinct to protect the genetic butcher wasn't important, not pissing off the one remaining hybrid who'd stayed behind as an ally, _that_ was important. Moreover, it could've been something I ate. And besides, the only significance in my ongoing association with the geneticist was our shared desire for retribution. And without her knowledge, it would take me hundreds of lifetimes to locate and sever the innumerable heads of the serpent.

I hid the threat behind a closed lipped smirk, openly eying the ghoulish Caesar, "I can't imagine why she would ever feel threatened with you as her warden."

Wiry muscle sliding beneath pale flesh, Caesar faced me fully, his disturbing baby bird-like bulbous eyeless sockets somehow more keen than the eyes of a hawk and an insincere smile that would make the devil cry. "Don't worry, Revy, I won't eat her."

I sensed an implied _yet _at the end of that sentence. But the geneticist wasn't stupid by any measure, well aside from her short stint working for Wey-Yu, I didn't believe she would do anything that would incur Caesar's wraith. So I didn't feel inclined to exercise my loyalty... again. Sheesh, seriously, when had that happened anyway?

After a minute of earnest thought (really, I gave it my all) I hit a wall, a wall of gorgeous muscle tightly bound in midnight blue skin. Laughter tickled the back of my throat. Turns out the prospect of having sex with Slitha, an assassin initially sent to kill me by the by, was one way to sway this woman's priorities.

_Wait a minute? Blue?_ Now I was completely confuzzled because Slitha's skin was a stormy red and grey. I gave it a mental shrug and headed for the _Kitsune_.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. **

**NeverNeverLady: Awe, thanks! You're fabulous too XD**

**Arbitrator11: Thank you for your kind words! I've been working so hard to improve my word manipulation and my world building. I was smiling with pride after reading your review. Thank you for that. :) Lol, and that's exactly what I was going for with his man-thong XD **

**KTCameleon: Lol, I suppose in a demented way he is. Thanks so much, KT! Stay awesome!**

**Vakrian: Yup yup. Thanks, V! I'm giving it my all! And pants! Put on some damn pants man! XP **

**angel897: You're such a constant angel :) Thanks for reading my stories! **

**nightshade6335: I'm giving it my all! Hope you enjoyed the update! Thanx for the love :) **

**Akari Wolf Princess: Lmao, I actually had to give it some thought, and I concur, firm yet oh-so-squishable. XD Yeah, Revna took a beating but the girl can handle herself. And don't worry she'll have her fun at his expense ;) Thanx so much for the love! **


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